TheBrandWiki

VideoEgg Eggs on Google

I have no reason to doubt the statement below, which was delivered to my e-mail box this morning. I'm sure that VideoEgg is just thrilled that Google is embracing the "overlay" video ad formula that VideoEgg claims it pioneered. And VideoEgg was so excited it just had to tell everyone:

VideoEgg welcomes adoption of video advertising approach that it pioneered
Google / YouTube entrance into the market will help establish standards, create advertiser demand

        Pioneering video-ad network VideoEgg, the first to introduce interactive advertising overlays onto video, welcomed today’s news that Google’s YouTube has adopted its approach to online video advertising.  VideoEgg, which delivers video ads across many popular social-networking and community web sites such as Facebook, Bebo, Hi5 and Flixster, said Google’s entry validates the market and will help drive the widespread adoption and standardization of video advertising.
       
        "Overlays have proven effective bringing brands into short-form video content. Viewers click on them at a rate roughly five times higher than banner ads," said Troy Young, chief marketing officer, VideoEgg.  "Google and YouTube’s advertising format acknowledges the importance of this new approach to online video advertising, something VideoEgg has championed from the start." 
       
Young added. "At this early stage in our industry, we welcome other companies adopting VideoEgg’s invitation-based approach to online video advertising.  As an industry leader, we continue to explore new innovations in ad formats, targeting and the most effective ways to leverage social networks to build brands. This is just one step in our journey and we’re flattered that Google has recognized our early success by adopting our tried and tested format. Google/YouTube will further accelerate the already rapid advertiser adoption of invitation-based online video advertising.”

Bloggers Trash New Google Ad Format

Sure, it seemed like a good idea. Instead of preroll ads, Google today is rolling out "ad overlays" on YouTube that run about 15 seconds and take up only 20% or so of the screen. If the idea sounds familiar, it is: TBS and other cable networks have been using a similar device for years to promote their shows. But not everyone is happy with Google's move. Bloggers today are criticizing the move on two fronts:

1. It's not subject-relevant like AdWords. Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 points out that in many if not most instances, the ads will have nothing to do with the editorial content," then adds ominously, "Now, it’s opt IN. And now we’re going to find out what people REALLY think of video ads, which Madison Avenue has always known in its heart but has never been able to admit." Cue Beethoven's Fifth.

2. It will not make Google enough money. This is the opinion of disgraced analyst turned blogger Henry Blodget who has crunched the numbers and found, "In short, YouTube's revenue won't likely be material to Google for at least a year or two and possibly more."

My own take is that this is probably the only way Google could make any ad money from YouTube and, knowing Google, they will find a way to make the ads more relevant. As for revenues, Google already made its money back on YouTube the day it bought it.

Geico Cavemen Show They're Hip to Web 2.0

Thanks to marketing blogger Todd Watson for pointing out this microsite for the Geico cavemen. Click on the iPhone-like guide and you enter a room where the main Caveman guy (and the funniest) is clad in a robe and getting ready for a party. There you can click on a laptop and see the Caveman's blog (entry: "To borrow liberally from Chayefsky: 'We're not gonna take it anymore!'" Click on the iPod and you can turn on Royskopp's "Remind Me" among other tunes. I guess this is designed to tide Cavemaniacs over until ABC's show premieres on Oct. 2.

Anomaly's New Partner on Lance and Nike

Not everyone in New York is bummed out about the rain. “It’s fantastic!” said Richard Mulder, a new partner at Anomaly, the hip, SoHo-based ad agency. “I’m Dutch so I love it. It’s just like home.”
Mulder worked at Nike for 11 years and is credited with inventing the Lance Armstrong yellow bracelet and worked on three Olympics campaigns. He joined Anomaly about three weeks ago. In a brief chat, he talked about Nike, Anomaly and agency client Jawbone.

Brandwiki: What will you be doing for Anomaly?
Richard Mulder: My official title is ‘creative catalyst,’ so you figure out where you have the most use. I’m kind of in between a lot of the functions. I work a lot with [creative chief] Mike Byrne, but I do hope that I can use the creative brains here for other things like events.
I worked with Mike five years on Nike and I hope I can get the best out of him.

BW: You were behind the Lance Armstrong bracelets? What was the story?
RM: Every year it was the same group of people pushing to do something big around Lance. So that one year when he was going to win his sixth Tour de France and it was a big story, we went through the same process and—there was already this idea because most people in the U.S. are not cycling fans but love to see an American winning, especially in France—so for them he is the yellow jersey. The first idea we had was ‘How can we own yellow?’ And the other thing that came into play was Lance came to the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award [dinner] with Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter, eveyone was there and Lance walks in and they gave him a standing ovation, like he’s the man. That got me thinking like if people knew that their hero had another hero who’s Lance Armstrong that’s the way to connect to the 14 year-old kid. And the yellow thing came back. And that’s where the yellow band came in...It was that simple. I think we’re up to 70 million now or something.

BW: Why did you leave Nike to come to Anomaly?
RM: Well, I’ve been 11 years there and it was going to be my fourth Olympics that I was going to be working on and my eighth European championship and at some point you have to be careful because it’s so hard not become formulaic when you’ve been through it so many times. You start cutting corners and at some point you become more of a mentor and you have to show people how to do it and I’m not a coach yet. I like it, but I want to play too.

BW: What are you working on now?
RM: I am getting my arms around Jawbone, which is a very interesting business problem and opportunity at the same time.

BW: What’s Jawbone?
RM: It’s a Bluetooth headset with noise cancellation technology, beautifully designed, state of the art I mean you can wear it in a club and make a phone call.

Embarrassing Customer Relations Spectacles of the Day

How UPS ships your packages when you're not there.

A drunken Delta stewardess freaks out.

Mercedes Commercial Forgoes Beauty Shots

I'm not sure where this commercial originated, but it's nice to see a car ad that is about people rather than just hardware. In the ad, two friends attempt to one-up each other as they race to get to a gym, race through their workouts. Then, when they hit the sauna, a third guy appears who then raises the ante on both by increasing the temperature in the room. It's a cute ad and apparently one of the top viral videos going right now. But I just know I've seen other ads with that "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" song. Here's one.

Video Lobs Heavy Criticism at iPhone

Perhaps it's because she's an attractive blonde, but a video of a putative iPhone user named Justine Ezarik receiving a 300-page bill from AT&T is now among YouTube's most viewed videos. Partially, this is because WTAE, a TV station in Ezarik's native Pittsburgh picked up on the story.

Red Hook Crowdsources Coasters

How do you get the concept "Defy Ordinary" across on a beer coaster? Red Hook is broaching that question with a microsite that invites fans to submit and rate coasters. Judging by previous entries--a guy with a fake moustache, a butterfly--no one has really nailed it yet. TM Advertising in Dallas handles. BTW, what's up with this site?

Slow Week Continues at NYT

Let's face it, August is a slow time for marketing/advertising news. Yet there's little to justify the "duh" sentiment by today's NYT ad column story: "Product packages now shout to get your attention." Maybe I'm too close to this stuff, but isn't the emphasis on packaging kind of old news? Likewise, Stuart Elliott's column about how marketers are using the lower-case letter i for their product names also seems strangely familiar.

NY Times Likes Gorbachev Story So Much It Tells It Twice!

As Peter Rost, our Brandweek NRX blogger, is trashing The New York Times today, I thought I'd join the fun by noting that The NYT's current ad column about Mikhail Gorbachev's new ads for Louis Vuitton is not only old news, but it's already been reported by the NYT elsewhere on July 26. Granted, August is slow, but this is kind of lame. And that's coming from someone who's a big fan of the NYT, shrunken paper edition and all.